Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,152,708 members, 7,816,911 topics. Date: Friday, 03 May 2024 at 08:01 PM

Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture - Sports (4) - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Entertainment / Sports / Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture (34172 Views)

The Golden Eaglets Of Nigeria Thread: Brazil 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup / Niger Republic U17 3-1 Nigeria U17: Golden Eaglets Crash Out Of U17 Afcon / Kehinde And Taiwo Awoniyi's 19th Birthday Celebrated By The Ex Eaglets Striker (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (Reply) (Go Down)

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Bobbyunitedfc(m): 11:36am On Nov 17, 2015
bigwallace:
lol, I laugh at your ignorance let's call a spade a spade wt is bad is bad,our football won't grow with this win at all cost mentality.the real u17 re in our secondary schools,just roger that.

u laf at my ignorance....guess u and the writer are not aware of MRI SCAN

u claim to be a footballer,my point here is u shouldn't condemn ur profession,every profession has its downside,age cheating is to football so just dont call the boys cheats,e dy vex me

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by pedrilo: 11:40am On Nov 17, 2015
Dragonking:
[size=15pt]This is why we don't move forward...We are the same ones that always plot our downfall....The eediot that wrote this article has forgotten that of recent, before the tournament starts, all players will undergo an MRI scan first to determine their true age...So if the boys underwent the scan by FIFA and they were successful, why should this nincompoop come and write this trash Nigeria is it own enemy I swear. **spits**[/size]

angry angry angry angry angry angry
keep quiet my friend! those guys are not less than 25 years old

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Nobody: 11:40am On Nov 17, 2015
OP main argument might have made sense a decade ago. Not in contemporary times. No, certainly not today.

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by PBundles(m): 11:43am On Nov 17, 2015
Reading some of the responses shows why we have issues in that country EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT OP HAS SAID IS THE TRUTH!!! See Nigerians, God help us, we will see something bent and try to straighten it.

To be honest other countries do it also, especially South American and other African countries.Its virtually impossible in Europe though there have been incidental cases. But the OP was focusing on Nigeria.

Anyway why am I surprised, in a country where Rotimi Amaechi stood in front of a screening panel and said I NEVER STOLE ANY MONEY, its ok I hear una.

4 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by preggy: 11:44am On Nov 17, 2015
Lasisi the end time terrorist
lasisi69:
End time cheating

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by obinoral1179(m): 11:47am On Nov 17, 2015
Cybertext:
In as much as I would have love to agree with the Op... Age cheating is not restricted to Nigeria or African players alone...

Diego Costa (25), Balotelli (25) Paul Pogba (21), Vincent Kompany (28), Mangala (24), Ross Barkley (21)... the list goes on, these European players might have altered their age (they might have not)... If you look at most of them closely they look far older than their ages. If this guys are Nigerians we will all be shouting Age cheats.

One thing is certain though, one of the major reasons we experience a lot of success in under 17 level is not because of Age Cheat but because of poverty ... most of this players play their heart out in this tournaments because they want scouts of foreign clubs to sign them, after making lots of money you will see the same set of people playing without cohesion in U21 tourney (Op u want to tell me that 2years later this same group of Age cheats can not beat the same eligible U20 players? have their legs immediately gotten weak by after 2years that they can't beat their Junior
bro am not disputing your fact but I want you to look at all this from this point of view...

1 the Europeans as good database,which is available to even the store you are buying groceries not to mention the hospital you are been given birth to.
2 Africa and Nigeria stills need proper data collection. As a statistician I know the wonders a proper database will do. Firstly it will reduce corruption, it will block leakages,it will reduce cheating. E g most of the boys just got their international passport.
3 when you cheat to the top,you can never cheat to sustain yourself. Its never possible


Am still of opinion that the europeans are not cheaters in terms of age grade competition and the south america are minimal just like kun,di maria, neymar and so on but africa are the best cheaters.




On the final note I have a friend who is footballer but he is a graduate like me and he still insist on pursue a career in football.

Now the question is what age will my former roomate put when is breakthrough eventually lands?

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Cadamlk: 11:47am On Nov 17, 2015
Let us remove sentiments.OP's comment on Kanu's age is a little bit exaggerated.Kanu from my point of veiw is among the fairest on this age cheat issue.Kanu wrote WAEC 1992 and he played under 17 world cup 1993.Am just saying Kanu may not be as old as expressed by op.

3 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by 9jatatafo(m): 11:48am On Nov 17, 2015
It has do oooo!!!!! OP don misfire in some area ooo Kanu 10 years older? Even Jaj Jay?

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Dragonking: 11:49am On Nov 17, 2015
pedrilo:
keep quiet my friend! those guys are not less than 25 years old
Another nincompoop.... Can you prove that they are not less than 25years...Why don't you write and complain to Fifa about how inefficient and error filled their MRI scan is if you have substantial evidence against the age of the boys..Ode oshi.

Fifa that conducted the scan and tournament are not complaining, it is you, a nobody that is opening your stinking mouth...mtchhhheew

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by pedrilo: 11:52am On Nov 17, 2015
Dragonking:
Another nincompoop.... Can you prove that they are not less than 25years...Why don't you write and complain to Fifa about how inefficient and error filled their MRI scan is if you have substantial evidence against the age of the boys..Ode oshi.

Fifa that conducted the scan and tournament are not complaining, it is you, a nobody that is opening your stinking mouth...mtchhhheew
dem cook crase giv u chop? i say keep quiet! maybe u want make i giv u backy sclap. #fool
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by buchostags(m): 11:52am On Nov 17, 2015
they do d age test so whoever passes d test goes to d championship. sum underaged player do fail d test. note that

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by PrettyGaby(f): 11:53am On Nov 17, 2015
If you watched the competition you can attest that it isn't just a Nigerian problem. Lots of countries obviously had overaged players. Naija boys just fitted right in.
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by PBundles(m): 11:53am On Nov 17, 2015
For those saying why doesnt FIFA do anything, ITS NOT THIER DUTY. if you read their age policy its up to the local federations to screen. The only thing they can do is honor petitions which countries send if if they suspect or have issues, but no one every really does that because they dont want to be seen as sore loser, though behind the scenes most EU countries complain this all the time off record.

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Pwhitelaw(m): 11:56am On Nov 17, 2015
Op you can retrieve the cup if you dey vex.. Maybe you don't know they are battling in the euphoria of success presently and you are here on naira land posting gibberish..plz call fifa and make your report.. Mtchewwwe
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by MrDavidson: 11:59am On Nov 17, 2015
It's very unfortunate that Nigeria has been doing this from time immemorial and no leader has got the moral guts to call them to order. Any wonder we're the most-crowned U-17 champion, but have never reached semi final at the Super Eagle level? This is an evil culture of corruption. I hope Buhari will care to know that this is also tantamount to financial corruption and impropriety. Let him order NFF to cease from that.

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Nobody: 12:07pm On Nov 17, 2015
richidinho:
grin

Okoro was nicknamed "Small Messi"

funny


LWKMD , small messi my hairy arrsse

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by chinchum(m): 12:08pm On Nov 17, 2015
I believe there is a remarkable improvement in age cheat since 2013. Although i will prefer FIFA doing the MRI scan than NFF.

The 2013 /2015 u17 teams were in the 18-21 bracket in my candid opinion.

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Nobody: 12:12pm On Nov 17, 2015
I remember the Nigeria 99 tourney we hosted ( I can't remember the age group ) and a balding Dombraye represented Nigeria. He was always on skin ( gorimapa ) and it wasn't easily noticed he was going bald already but match day 3 revealed all that , he probably had a cut a few days back and some of the hair was growing back ( you'll notice I said some ) , the very arid , hairless and brightly shining centre of his dome was clearly visible.


Now that I think back I'll say it was under 17 as well
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by BuddhaPalm(m): 12:17pm On Nov 17, 2015
Cadamlk:
Let us remove sentiments.OP's comment on Kanu's age is a little bit exaggerated.Kanu from my point of veiw is among the fairest on this age cheat issue.Kanu wrote WAEC 1992 and he played under 17 world cup 1993.Am just saying Kanu may not be as old as expressed by op.

Bros Kanu is my guy, but he subtracted at least 50 years from his age grin

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by BuddhaPalm(m): 12:18pm On Nov 17, 2015
neoapocalypse:
I remember the Nigeria 99 tourney we hosted ( I can't remember the age group ) and a balding Dombraye represented Nigeria. He was always on skin ( gorimapa ) and it wasn't easily noticed he was going bald already but match day 3 revealed all that , he probably had a cut a few days back and some of the hair was growing back ( you'll notice I said some ) , the very arid , hairless and brightly shining centre of his dome was clearly visible.


Now that I think back I'll say it was under 17 as well

Maybe he has the same balding genetic condition Neyo's family has grin.

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by ogmaskman: 12:20pm On Nov 17, 2015
jonathanOz:
Agreed, we cheat, but don't make it sound like only Nigerians are culprit. Most south and North American countries too cheat. Even the mexican team we played sometime ago had some clearly over aged players among them.
And what's the use of the MRI scan? Why did FIFA incorporate it into the screening process? If fifa is okay with the results of the scan i don't see why anybody should be worried. Some peeps should stop proving more catholic than the pope abeg. Even FIFA is very corrupt

You are right Jonathan. Just like u said 'stealing is not corruption.
I pluck my tooth for u sir.

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Cadamlk: 12:24pm On Nov 17, 2015
BuddhaPalm:


Bros Kanu is my guy, but he subtracted at least 50 years from his age grin
I blame you?lol.Na you for be him papa sef nor be him guy alone

1 Like

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by charlesucheh(m): 12:28pm On Nov 17, 2015
iliyande:
By Yinka Odumakin

“Yakubu is 25 but a Nigerian 25”—Everton Manager, David Moyes in 2008.

“I don’t see Nigerian football getting out of the quagmire, the problem it is in, today, is because corruption is getting deeper and deeper. From time to time we get flashes where we do well in some competitions with overage players and we celebrate.
That was one of the issues I looked at; we can’t keep using overage players. We used over-age players for junior championships, I know that. Why not say it? It’s the truth. We always cheat. It’s a fact. When you cheat, you deprive the young stars that are supposed to play in these competitions their rights.”— NFA Chairman, Anthony Kojo Williams, in 2000.

JULIUS Agwu is one of my favourite comedians in Nigeria .I love his feminine voice,the crispness of his jokes as well as his delivery. Anytime I am boarding a flight and I call my wife,I usually say “abodu ala o”.I picked that from Julius.He cracked the joke about a flight attendant going around the lounge to announce an aircraft boarding because the public address system was not working during the renovations of the Enugu airport .

The Igbo lady was saying: “A Lagos abodu ala o” There was a passenger billed to fly that plane who did not understand a word in Igbo and therefore sat put while other passengers went to join the queue. About an hour later he went to the A… counter and asked why they had yet to make a boarding call only to be told that the plane had since departed “I went round shouting abodu ala” came from the flight attendant as if every passenger must understand her native tongue.

But his joke that is relevant to what I am discussing today is the one where he talked about some Nigerian team training for an age-grade competition near his house and how he went to one of the players to ask for his age and the response he got was: “Our coach has not given us our age”.

We have just “conquered” the world again in Chile and the drums are rolling in celebration of our lack of character and integrity as a people. Our infinite capacity to conspire in falsehood and pretend that all is well when the reverse is the case is once more being demonstrated even when we don’t blink in reciting our

NATIONAL PLEDGE:

“I pledge to Nigeria my country To be faithful,loyal and HONEST”

We say these and all the other lines(read LIES) even when no one believes in them. We have mastered the art of saying something and doing another because the very foundation of our country is a concrete of lies. Every action we take is built on falsehood because we just can’t do it right. Cheating our ways to corner undeserved advantages has become a national culture because we have not been able to construct a national vision.

After 55 years we still cannot count ourselves because an accurate census would minimise our ability to cheat. Our examinations have become a farce as parents even buy questions for their wards and pay for admissions. We beat traffic rules if there is nobody in sight to enforce them.Our politicians forge certificates to contest elections. Our vote counts conflict with actual vote cast. Judges take bribes to pervert Justice. Priests and Imams negate moral values. The “how “ no longer matter to us and yet we pray that our country should succeed .

We can occasionally have some fake success but not good success because we break all the rules of success as natural cheats. We deploy kids to vote in elections where adults should participate when we want to cheat internally and assemble adults to go and compete with kids globally when we want to cheat internationally. This is why we are celebrating 22 men who went to an unequal competition with only whispers about the actual ages of our boys.

Physical appearance
Mere physical appearances of our boys should tell any honest person that the suspicion about true ages of some Nigerian footballers which made FIFA to ban the country from all international fixtures for two years after finding that the birth dates of three of our players in the 1988 Olympics were different from ones used by the same players in previous tournaments is still very much with us.

Nigeria has over the years paraded promising “ youngsters” who mysteriously failed to fulfill their potential in the senior teams. Phillip Osondu was the best player at the 1987 Under-17 World Cup, after which he was signed on by Anderlecht, only to drift out of the game and into janitorial work after questions were raised about his real age. Femi Opabunmi shone brilliantly when Nigeria played in the finals of the Under-17 competition in 2001 and was officially the third youngest player in the senior team when he featured in the 0-0 game with England during the 2002 World Cup. But by 2005 he had expired doing only part-time soccer in some unrated team in lower rungs of the French league.

Adokiye Amiesimaka questioned the inclusion of Golden Eaglets captain Fortune Chukwudi during the 2009 Under 17 championship . Amiesimaka in an unusual candor bared his mind after Nigeria’s opening 3-3 draw with Germany at the Abuja National Stadium on October 24. “In the 2002/2003 season, I was chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt. I decided to have a feeder team of fresh school leavers not older than 20 years.

One of my key players then is the current captain of our so-called Under-17 Golden Eaglets. By his own admission at that time, that is seven years ago, he was 18 years old…If we are not utterly irresponsible, how can he be eligible for this tournament when he is not less than 25 years old now?” Amiesimaka wrote in the Punch newspaper. Chukwudi played till the Eaglets final match and fizzled out thereafter. But since corruption is official in Nigeria,there was no whimper from our officials .
I read on The Cable in June this year of how Taye Taiwo’s twin sister allegedly celebrated her 39th birthday the day Taiwo was doing his own 27th.There was also the story of Samson Siasia cutting the cake of his 30th wedding anniversary at the age of 47!

About the most hilarious was that of Dele Ajiboye who exposed the lie over his age when he featured in the Under-17 tournament in 2007″.In the chat(with Soccer Star) the Golden Eaglets gold medal-winning goalkeeper in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2007 inadvertently revealed he was older than he claimed eight years earlier. When asked about his role model as a professional goalkeeper, the Kwara United keeper revealed the person without much fuss. “I have many role models.

Anyone I learn from is my role model,” he said. “I could remember when I was still a young boy, I do watch Peter Rufai and I learnt a lot from him.” Ajiboye is 25 now and 17 in 2007, but we doubt he was referring to the Peter Rufai of 1998 World Cup. Nobody learnt anything fruitful and meaningful from Rufai of 1998. Even Ajiboye at age eight couldn’t have learnt anything worthy from the fumbling Dodo Mayana except, of course, how to make cheap goals look spectacular. Then, we are assuming Ajiboye was referring to the Rufai of 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup. But in 1994, Ajiboye was four!”
James Spencer in an article traced age fraud in the Premier League to African players: “Age fraud came to prominence in the Premier League from the mid-1990s onwards, as clubs began looking more and more at emerging African players. Several former Premier League players from Nigeria alone have been suspected of such misrepresentation.

Nwankwo Kanu is a legend of African football and became a cult hero in England playing for clubs like Arsenal and Portsmouth. The tall forward won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995, but was always suspected to be as much as nine years older than his stated age. Speaking in 2010, Harry Redknapp jokingly exaggerated that Kanu was 49, though given how he described ever increasing ailments and the need for treatment, there seemed to be a shred of authenticity to his words.

Former Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins was also at the centre of an age row. The player had spectacularly burst onto the scene with Inter Milan as a youngster, but failed to make the most of his talent, suggesting he could already have been much older than stated. In 2005, while Martins was still in Italy, the Nigerian Football Federation claimed he was actually born in 1978, though his player registration stated it was 1984.

National failure
Similar stories also exist for both Jay-Jay Okocha and Taribo West who plied their trade in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers and Derby County, respectively.

Throughout his career, Okocha was rumoured to be 10 years older than his official age. Following his departure from Derby in 2001, West allegedly told Partizan Belgrade that he was only 28, though given the state of his body the club had strong suspicions that he was 40.

It may not occur to us that our national failure is the sum total of all these little acts of dishonesty .I recall a Dutch-journalist friend of mine who I was driving along the Airport Road in 1998 and saw a fellow peeing on the road. He looked at the guy and said to me: “If that man cannot see anything wrong urinating on the roadside,he would do other 1000 things that are not right and would not see nothing wrong”.

We shall engage in this hollow rituals of celebrating our “victory” but we know in the inner recesses of our minds that is all a fluke because we didn’t do it right. Scoundrels posing as patriots would even abuse this writer for writing the truth. That majority is wrong should not desist the minority that is right from saying it as it is.

The truth must be told even if heavens fall: It is only righteousness that exalts a nation.
cc; lalasticlala ,ishilove
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/papa-eaglets-and-our-cheating-culture/
Choi! I kept reading hoping to see something positive about Nigeria, But No! This you just kept on throwing stones at your own glass house. Can't come from a wayward family and all I would want to do is criticize and paint black their image.
I get it! You're just trying to be blunt and sincere! You have a right to that, But me reading this, is like a member from my family throwing stones at us. I feel the pain as you do, But next time, don't throw it on our faces. Just write a Book and title it;"A DECEITFUL COUNTRY" the Nigerian story. Then interested and sporadically angered citizens can buy and read to either aggravate or reduce their level of frustration.

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by looseweight: 12:28pm On Nov 17, 2015
Woow

I felt remorseful after reading through this write-up.
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by shopandmall(m): 12:28pm On Nov 17, 2015
I do not totally agree with you. Yes we cheated in the past, were got by FIFA and punished for it. in modern day football, particularly in the past 5 - 7 years it would have been absolutely impossible for any male team participating in the FIFA world cup to cheat. Why you may ask? FIFA as research into technology using MRI scan for under 17s. This presently applies to only the boys. And using the fussing of the wrist they can detect male players that are above or below 17. That technology was used at the last world cup to confirm that all those who participated where not above 17 years.


http://www.fifa.com/development/news/y=2009/m=10/news=caught-the-wrists-1121679.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465442/


iliyande:
By Yinka Odumakin

“Yakubu is 25 but a Nigerian 25”—Everton Manager, David Moyes in 2008.

“I don’t see Nigerian football getting out of the quagmire, the problem it is in, today, is because corruption is getting deeper and deeper. From time to time we get flashes where we do well in some competitions with overage players and we celebrate.
That was one of the issues I looked at; we can’t keep using overage players. We used over-age players for junior championships, I know that. Why not say it? It’s the truth. We always cheat. It’s a fact. When you cheat, you deprive the young stars that are supposed to play in these competitions their rights.”— NFA Chairman, Anthony Kojo Williams, in 2000.

JULIUS Agwu is one of my favourite comedians in Nigeria .I love his feminine voice,the crispness of his jokes as well as his delivery. Anytime I am boarding a flight and I call my wife,I usually say “abodu ala o”.I picked that from Julius.He cracked the joke about a flight attendant going around the lounge to announce an aircraft boarding because the public address system was not working during the renovations of the Enugu airport .

The Igbo lady was saying: “A Lagos abodu ala o” There was a passenger billed to fly that plane who did not understand a word in Igbo and therefore sat put while other passengers went to join the queue. About an hour later he went to the A… counter and asked why they had yet to make a boarding call only to be told that the plane had since departed “I went round shouting abodu ala” came from the flight attendant as if every passenger must understand her native tongue.

But his joke that is relevant to what I am discussing today is the one where he talked about some Nigerian team training for an age-grade competition near his house and how he went to one of the players to ask for his age and the response he got was: “Our coach has not given us our age”.

We have just “conquered” the world again in Chile and the drums are rolling in celebration of our lack of character and integrity as a people. Our infinite capacity to conspire in falsehood and pretend that all is well when the reverse is the case is once more being demonstrated even when we don’t blink in reciting our

NATIONAL PLEDGE:

“I pledge to Nigeria my country To be faithful,loyal and HONEST”

We say these and all the other lines(read LIES) even when no one believes in them. We have mastered the art of saying something and doing another because the very foundation of our country is a concrete of lies. Every action we take is built on falsehood because we just can’t do it right. Cheating our ways to corner undeserved advantages has become a national culture because we have not been able to construct a national vision.

After 55 years we still cannot count ourselves because an accurate census would minimise our ability to cheat. Our examinations have become a farce as parents even buy questions for their wards and pay for admissions. We beat traffic rules if there is nobody in sight to enforce them.Our politicians forge certificates to contest elections. Our vote counts conflict with actual vote cast. Judges take bribes to pervert Justice. Priests and Imams negate moral values. The “how “ no longer matter to us and yet we pray that our country should succeed .

We can occasionally have some fake success but not good success because we break all the rules of success as natural cheats. We deploy kids to vote in elections where adults should participate when we want to cheat internally and assemble adults to go and compete with kids globally when we want to cheat internationally. This is why we are celebrating 22 men who went to an unequal competition with only whispers about the actual ages of our boys.

Physical appearance
Mere physical appearances of our boys should tell any honest person that the suspicion about true ages of some Nigerian footballers which made FIFA to ban the country from all international fixtures for two years after finding that the birth dates of three of our players in the 1988 Olympics were different from ones used by the same players in previous tournaments is still very much with us.

Nigeria has over the years paraded promising “ youngsters” who mysteriously failed to fulfill their potential in the senior teams. Phillip Osondu was the best player at the 1987 Under-17 World Cup, after which he was signed on by Anderlecht, only to drift out of the game and into janitorial work after questions were raised about his real age. Femi Opabunmi shone brilliantly when Nigeria played in the finals of the Under-17 competition in 2001 and was officially the third youngest player in the senior team when he featured in the 0-0 game with England during the 2002 World Cup. But by 2005 he had expired doing only part-time soccer in some unrated team in lower rungs of the French league.

Adokiye Amiesimaka questioned the inclusion of Golden Eaglets captain Fortune Chukwudi during the 2009 Under 17 championship . Amiesimaka in an unusual candor bared his mind after Nigeria’s opening 3-3 draw with Germany at the Abuja National Stadium on October 24. “In the 2002/2003 season, I was chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt. I decided to have a feeder team of fresh school leavers not older than 20 years.

One of my key players then is the current captain of our so-called Under-17 Golden Eaglets. By his own admission at that time, that is seven years ago, he was 18 years old…If we are not utterly irresponsible, how can he be eligible for this tournament when he is not less than 25 years old now?” Amiesimaka wrote in the Punch newspaper. Chukwudi played till the Eaglets final match and fizzled out thereafter. But since corruption is official in Nigeria,there was no whimper from our officials .
I read on The Cable in June this year of how Taye Taiwo’s twin sister allegedly celebrated her 39th birthday the day Taiwo was doing his own 27th.There was also the story of Samson Siasia cutting the cake of his 30th wedding anniversary at the age of 47!

About the most hilarious was that of Dele Ajiboye who exposed the lie over his age when he featured in the Under-17 tournament in 2007″.In the chat(with Soccer Star) the Golden Eaglets gold medal-winning goalkeeper in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2007 inadvertently revealed he was older than he claimed eight years earlier. When asked about his role model as a professional goalkeeper, the Kwara United keeper revealed the person without much fuss. “I have many role models.

Anyone I learn from is my role model,” he said. “I could remember when I was still a young boy, I do watch Peter Rufai and I learnt a lot from him.” Ajiboye is 25 now and 17 in 2007, but we doubt he was referring to the Peter Rufai of 1998 World Cup. Nobody learnt anything fruitful and meaningful from Rufai of 1998. Even Ajiboye at age eight couldn’t have learnt anything worthy from the fumbling Dodo Mayana except, of course, how to make cheap goals look spectacular. Then, we are assuming Ajiboye was referring to the Rufai of 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup. But in 1994, Ajiboye was four!”
James Spencer in an article traced age fraud in the Premier League to African players: “Age fraud came to prominence in the Premier League from the mid-1990s onwards, as clubs began looking more and more at emerging African players. Several former Premier League players from Nigeria alone have been suspected of such misrepresentation.

Nwankwo Kanu is a legend of African football and became a cult hero in England playing for clubs like Arsenal and Portsmouth. The tall forward won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995, but was always suspected to be as much as nine years older than his stated age. Speaking in 2010, Harry Redknapp jokingly exaggerated that Kanu was 49, though given how he described ever increasing ailments and the need for treatment, there seemed to be a shred of authenticity to his words.

Former Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins was also at the centre of an age row. The player had spectacularly burst onto the scene with Inter Milan as a youngster, but failed to make the most of his talent, suggesting he could already have been much older than stated. In 2005, while Martins was still in Italy, the Nigerian Football Federation claimed he was actually born in 1978, though his player registration stated it was 1984.

National failure
Similar stories also exist for both Jay-Jay Okocha and Taribo West who plied their trade in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers and Derby County, respectively.

Throughout his career, Okocha was rumoured to be 10 years older than his official age. Following his departure from Derby in 2001, West allegedly told Partizan Belgrade that he was only 28, though given the state of his body the club had strong suspicions that he was 40.

It may not occur to us that our national failure is the sum total of all these little acts of dishonesty .I recall a Dutch-journalist friend of mine who I was driving along the Airport Road in 1998 and saw a fellow peeing on the road. He looked at the guy and said to me: “If that man cannot see anything wrong urinating on the roadside,he would do other 1000 things that are not right and would not see nothing wrong”.

We shall engage in this hollow rituals of celebrating our “victory” but we know in the inner recesses of our minds that is all a fluke because we didn’t do it right. Scoundrels posing as patriots would even abuse this writer for writing the truth. That majority is wrong should not desist the minority that is right from saying it as it is.

The truth must be told even if heavens fall: It is only righteousness that exalts a nation.
cc; lalasticlala ,ishilove
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/papa-eaglets-and-our-cheating-culture/

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Nobody: 12:29pm On Nov 17, 2015
BuddhaPalm:


Maybe he has the same balding genetic condition Neyo's family has grin.


Na wa o , under 17 years of age dey go bald , even Benjamin Button's case wasn't this curious
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by banio: 12:30pm On Nov 17, 2015
If you were ever involved in sports U will know that at no time did we cheat on age.
Now we use MRI scan yet you still cry foul.
I think U are the 1 with a problem, maybe U are an age cheat

2 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by MarieSucre(f): 12:31pm On Nov 17, 2015
jonathanOz:
Agreed, we cheat, but don't make it sound like only Nigerians are culprit. Most south and North American countries too cheat. Even the mexican team we played sometime ago had some clearly over aged players among them.
And what's the use of the MRI scan? Why did FIFA incorporate it into the screening process? If fifa is okay with the results of the scan i don't see why anybody should be worried. Some peeps should stop proving more catholic than the pope abeg. Even FIFA is very corrupt

" That majority is wrong should not desist the
minority that is right from saying it as it is."---culled from the last four lines of his write up.


Se ISIS bombed France, Book Haram is bombing Nigeria. According to you, why should we complain? As long as it happens elsewhere let us fold our hands and let the corruption sink deep na.

Na your kind sit-down-fold-hand type of people go ruin Nigeria.
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by miqos02(m): 12:32pm On Nov 17, 2015
hmmm
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by Nobody: 12:33pm On Nov 17, 2015
Op leave Okocha's name out of your self righteous post,He is not an age cheat. JJ joined Enugu Rangers even before he saw his WAEC result.

By the way. I still celebrate the Eaglets victory. They deserve it.

Go out there and get us 'your own' under 17.

3 Likes

Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by MarieSucre(f): 12:35pm On Nov 17, 2015
cathodekazim:



What a thrash that guy spewed

Cos of Nigeria and other African countries
FIfA established the mRI techniques of testing players real age and introduce MRI SCAN

The guys successfully undergo the mRI test and FIFA said they are eligible to play and this dullard has time to compose such a bulabula falacy

He needs brain checkup
Lubbish

Meanwhile beware of my exgfrnds, they are deadly, they brk hrts

Toritseju aborted for me and 3 other guys

Kudirat dump guys @ every 3rd year of her relationship

Oyindamola is an erratic xtian,
She don Bleep bfor, don bleach tire and now a born again who says she cnt hv sex until after marriage

Revirgin finz

Am out

And you allowed her abort to YOUR baby?

pls post your real name here, I mean your full name here so we can see you for the irresponsibly negro who you are.
Re: Papa Eaglets And Our Cheating Culture by henryhemon(m): 12:36pm On Nov 17, 2015
@poster,

The last two teams we have taken to world cup are very young boys,have you seen these boys in real life? Try seeing them and you will come and change your post,they are relatively young might not be 17 but not more than 3 or 4 years difference. Iheanacho still plays as a kid,same as isaac promise,Alamapasu, Nwakali, Chidera Eze,e.t.c the only exception to the last world cup years ago is mohammed the captain.

2 Likes

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (Reply)

Asisat Oshoala Goes Jet Skiing In China (Photos) / FIFA Bans MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja From Hosting Int’l Matches / Mikel Arteta: Aubameyang Won’t Play For Arsenal Until Further Notice

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 106
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.